Memorial of the Heart
by Sining
Summary: Sometimes, memories are better off left where they are....
1. #1

  
  
  
Hikari Hinomoto ran after the car as fast as her childhood legs could carry her, her little heart pounding with the the effort. Her movements were uncoordinated, the clumsy steps of a child but still she tried. Tears filled the side of her eyes, clouding her vision as she ran.  
  
A careless stumble, a moment's try to get her balance back before she fell to the ground, grazing her knee, just like she had done several days ago. Only now...there was no him to help her up, no him to comfort her when she was crying. She looked up to see his face staring at her from behind the window of the car and their eyes locked with each other.  
  
"I'll be back," his eyes, soft pools of amber, promised even as he disappeared from her view.  
  
-------  
A tokimeki memorial 2 fanfiction  
by Sining  
  
"Memorial of the Heart"   
#1  
  
-------  
  
Hikari Hinomoto woke up to the soft golden light of dawn, blinking as she lay in bed. The dream, it brought such bittersweet memories with it, memories of when two young children had happily played together, memories of _him_. The thought brought a familiar aching within her heart and she nearly cried, remembering how it had been.  
  
There was a gentle knock on the door. "Hikari?" her mother's voice came from behind the door, "it's time to wake up."  
  
"Hai Okaasan," Hikari sniffled as she got off the bed.   
  
There was a worried pause before her mother spoke again. "Hikari, daijobou?"  
  
"Daijobou, it was just a bad dream," Hikari lied, not wanting to cause her mother to worry about her. There was no reply but she could hear the shuffling of her mother's feet as she walked away.  
  
"Gomen ne," she said, feeling guilty. She turned to look at the photo, so delicately framed in gold-plated metal, a memory of happier days. It had been the last one she taken with him, right before he had moved away. And more importantly, she looks at the glass ring lying beside it.  
  
//Shin-chan...// she thought, picking up the ring and staring at it sadly.  
  
--  
  
He stared out of the window into the city, a city he had not seen in seven years and had never expected to see again. //It's been so long,// he thought, almost a lifetime ago. It had changed so much in the years he had been gone, changed till it seemed like he no longer knew it at all. It had changed...like him.  
  
Briefly he wondered if Kasumi and Hikari still lived here. Maybe they did, maybe he would bump into them once again. Maybe they might even remember him. Part of him hoped they would but seven years was a long time, too long to remember childhood friends and neighbours.  
  
Brushing his too-long fringe of hair out of his eyes, he continued staring out at the city.  
  
--  
  
The first day of High School, he supposed he should have been feeling nervous and all, what with being in a new school with strangers all around him, but he wasn't. In fact he was strangely calm, it was going to be one of those days he felt.  
  
He started looking on the billboards in the school yard for his name and the class he was assigned to. It didn't take long and he was almost ready to depart to class when he noticed something that sent a shock through him, paralysing him as he stared at the characters on the board.  
  
Hikari Hinomoto.  
  
Hikari Hinomoto...inadvertantly, memories of her came up, her red hair and easy nature, cheerful and yet so hopelessly incapable of taking care of herself at times. Of playing in the sandbox together and countless other memories. Hikari Hinomoto, funny how several characters could bring back such bittersweet feelings in him.   
  
Ka-bump!  
  
"Ittai nani ga!" He whirled about to shoot a scathing remark to the person who bumped into him, only to face empty air. He heard a slight groan from below him and he turned to stare at the figure sitting on the ground.   
  
Hikari groaned as she rubbed her head. She had been gazing around at the school, eagerly taking in the sight of the place where she would be studying at for the next three years when she had turned around and there he was, right in front of her. She had tried to stop but her momentum carried her through and she knocked into him.  
  
"Hikari," he breathed in a slightly disbelieving voice as he stared down at her. He had just been thinking about her, and here she was, or at least a person he thought was her. It was just too much of a coincidence.  
  
Hikari stared up at the stranger in front of her, wondering why he knew her name. Something about him tickled the back of her mind, like the faintest brush of a spiderweb. She took in the black hair, the golden eyes nearly hidden away by the thick and thoroughly messy fringe and a name snapped into her mind.  
  
"Shin-chan!?"   
  
The right side of his lip quirked upward as he gave a small smirk, extending his hand to help her up.   
  
"It's been a long time."  
  
End #1  



	2. #2

"And then we went on the merry-go-round and it was a lot of fun," a young Shinnosuke happily tells his mother of the fun day he had at the carnival with Kasumi and Hikari but as he goes on, he notices his mother seems worried. He stops, suddenly certain that something is wrong, very wrong.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asks, plaintively, in a child's way, direct and straight to the point.  
  
"Shinnosuke," his mother begins then stops, unsure of how to continue. "I have something to tell you," she says finally, deciding that perhaps the straightforward approach would work where so many others had failed before.  
  
"Nani?"  
  
"I'm...afraid we're going to be moving away tomorrow," she says.  
  
"Oh, is that why I had to put all my stuff into boxes earlier?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I suppose Hikari will be upset and all since we won't be neighbours anymore and she'll have to walk a longer distance to come to my house," Shinnosuke said.   
  
"..." This was the hardest part of all, and she wished bitterly that her husband was here to help her but he was busy finalising the last touches on their move. How to tell a child, a ten year old boy especially that he would no longer be able to see his friends here anymore, how to tell a child his life as he knew it was going to change? "I'm afraid, you won't be able to see Hikari anymore..."  
  
"Huh??" Shinnosuke said, shock registering on his face. "B-bu...but why not?? And what about Kasumi-neechan??" he stammered, his surprise marring his articulation.  
  
"I'm afraid you won't be able to see both of them anymore. We're moving overseas," his mother said sadly, trying to console the disconsolate boy.  
  
"Bu...but..." Shinnosuke's mind was overwhelmed, he wouldn't be able to see Hikari or Kasumi-neechan again?? The possibility unnerved him more than he cared to think. "NO!" he yelled suddenly, turning to his mother with pleading eyes. "I don't want to move!!"  
  
"Gomen ne Shinnosuke, everything's already been arranged," his mother said, sympathy rising in her as she looked at her only child.  
  
Shinnosuke seemed to deflate for a moment before he drew himself back up again, tiny fists clenched tightly by his side. "OKAASAN NO BAKA!! I HATE YOU!" Strong words, but then again his emotions had always tended to run stronger than others. Without any other words, he ran off to his room as fast as his legs could take him.  
  
His mother shook her head. That had gone about as well as could be expected.  
  
--------  
A tokimeki memorial 2 fanfiction  
by Sining  
  
"Memorial of the Heart"   
#2  
The things we long for...  
  
--------   
  
  
  
She couldn't stop staring at him. Everytime she tried to drag her eyes off him and pay attention to the class going on around her, she inevitably found herself turning her head to look at him again, found herself taking the sight of him in, trying to reconcile the image of the full-grown boy in front of her with the child she had last seen 7 years ago.  
  
He looked so changed. He had been a boy when she had seen him last, but now, what stood before her was something infinitely different. There was no joyful laughter, no cheerful spirit, no open eyes. When he had smiled at her, there was a pain in his eyes that hadn't been there 7 years ago.   
  
//What happened, Shin-chan? What changed you so much?//  
  
---  
  
Gym.   
  
It was one of the few periods he liked, where he didn't have to stay still, caged in one little corner of class, pretending to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. One of the few periods where he could just relax and let his body run on automatic.   
  
It felt great.  
  
They were playing basketball now, him and the other boys that made up his class. It was an easy game and he quickly became familarised with the basics after a few penalties and fouls.  
  
He smiled as he really got into the game, letting all the tension that had been in him since the day had started melt out of him.   
  
---  
  
Several boys approach him after the match and he watches them. He does not want company or even to make idle chatter and it shows in his eyes and posture. Three of them gulp and turn away when they see the expression on his face, some primitive instinct within them cautioning them away from him. They stare back at him now and then, puzzling out what is it about him that unnerves them so.  
  
The remaining two continue on towards him.   
  
"Hey, you were awesome out there," the shorter of the two says, an impish grin on his face, his blue eyes sparkling with inner mischief. "All the girls were staring at you," he continues, as if expecting him to be thrilled at this piece of information but it elicits no response from him.  
  
He tried to remember their names from the short introduction that the teacher had made each of them give at the beginning of the day. The blue-haired one who looked far too young to be high school, he could remember was Takumi, and the taller, brown-haired one was Junichiro.   
  
"Hi, I'm Hokari Junichiro, but my friends call me Jun," the brown-haired one said, a friendly smile on his face as he extended his hand out for a handshake. "Ignore Takumi here, he's got girls on the mind."  
  
"What??" Takumi pouted, his face contorting into an expression not unlike a sulking child. "I do not have girls on my mind, I just happen to think they're very important! Besides, who was the one telling me how cute the Hino girl was??"  
  
"Nanda?!?" Jun said, before blushing scarlet red. "That was just an innocent comment!"  
  
"Hai hai," Takumi grinned evilly, narrowing his eyes at Jun. "I bet you're thinking of her sweet, warm body."  
  
"Uso!!"   
  
He sighed inwardly as he watched them bicker, more children to deal with. He didn't need this, he should walk away from their stupid argument before they realised he was gone. But he didn't. 'Why?' he wondered to himself as he stayed and listened, not realising that even though he didn't need it, some part of him wanted it.  
  
---  
  
"You were great," Hikari said excitedly as she moved a chair so that she could sit next to him. It was lunch and the class had dispersed among themselves, settling into groups of new friends to chat aimlessly and eat lunch together.  
  
He shrugs, feeling slightly self-conscious as he continues chewing on his food. He can feel several people staring at him, and he pretends not to care, although the hair on the back of his neck rises.  
  
"The coach is definitely going to get you to join basketball."   
  
"...I'm not going to join basketball."  
  
"Huh? Why not? You're pretty good at it after all."   
  
"I'm not going to join basketball," he repeats simply, and there is a finality in his voice that she recognises from his childhood, a tone that means no matter what, he would not budge from his decision.  
  
"What about track then? You can be in the same club as me."  
  
He sighs, but a small smile lights up on his face nonetheless, it is reassuring to see that some things haven't changed, it almost feels like seven years have not passed since they last saw each other. 'Some things haven't but I have...', he thinks but keeps it to himself. "You're still as persistant as ever I see," he says, with a small smile on his face. He shrugs and continues, "I'll think about it."  
  
"..." There is silence as he eats, not paying attention to anything else that is going on, not the buzzing murmurs coming from all around, not to the rumours floating about, to nothing at all. He can hear his name mentioned several times, so softly that most people wouldn't have been able to hear it unless they were sitting next to the speaker.   
  
"...Shin-chan?" Hikari asks suddenly, looking down nervously at her lap. "Um, what did you do during the past seven years?"  
  
"SNAP!" With a sound like miniature thunder, his chopsticks break as he stiffens almost immediately. He turns his head down so Hikari will not see the dangerous gleam in his eyes, will not see the shape of his soul as he remembers the past. "Nothing important," he says, too quickly, too heatedly and he knows Hikari has spotted his slip in control.  
  
Hikari was quick to recover. Sensing that Shinnosuke wasn't quite ready to talk about what happened to him, she changed the subject. "I was really surprised to meet you again today. I didn't even know you were moving back to Hibikino. When did you arrive? Why didn't you call me to tell me you were coming back? I could have helped you or something."   
  
"Arrived yesterday. And I didn't call you because I didn't know your telephone number," Shinnosuke said in an off-handed fashion as he continues eating his lunch.  
  
"Nani? We were friends for 5 years before you moved away. How could you not know my telephone number??" Hikari pouted, frowning.  
  
"Because I've never used it, and I don't think you know mine either," Shinnosuke said, a smirk on his face as he leaned back into his chair. "We always used to just walk over to the other's house instead of calling each other after all."  
  
"...That's true," Hikari said after a while. She couldn't remember ever having called Shinnosuke before. "So where are you living now?"  
  
"The same house I lived in when I was a child," he said and leaves it at that.  
  
"Oh, I see." There was silence for a while before she spoke again, "Do you need any help unpacking?"   
  
"Iie, I finished already." Which was true in a way, he didn't have much to unpack, didn't own enough to have anything much to unpack.  
  
"Wow, that was fast," Hikari commented. "When I moved house, it took me and my parents several days to unpack all our stuff but you managed to do yours all in one day."  
  
"That's because I only had to unpack my own stuff."  
  
"Huh? What about your parents? Didn't you help them??" Hikari asked, puzzled.  
  
"...They're not staying in Japan, they're returning overseas." Seeing Hikari's confusion grow even more, he explained himself. "My father is still working overseas but I decided to come back to study and live by myself."  
  
"Isn't that hard for you? Living by yourself?" she asks, instantly worried for him.   
  
He smiles then, a slow widening of lips as they part to reveal teeth that seem unnaturally white. "No," he says, that strange smile on his face, as if enjoying some strange joke that only he was privy to. "I've always been good at taking care of myself."  
  
----  
  
She glanced at her watch as she leans against the wall of the school gate, checking the time yet again as she waits, with a patience born of familiarity and control, for her friend to appear. But nonetheless, she cannot help but wonder what is keeping Hikari.   
  
"Aaaah Kotoko, gomen!! Were you waiting long?"   
  
She looks up and sees Hikari, which she expected. But the other puzzles her, the male standing near Hikari, almost besides her and not quite. He stares off to the side, as if lost in thought or viewing a dream. Long bangs of dark black hair falls over his face, nearly hiding his eyes.   
  
" Ah, Kotoko, let me introduce you to Shinnosuke Watase, my childhood friend." Hikari said, noticing that Kotoko was staring at Shinnosuke with an intense gaze on her face, the kind that usually meant that she didn't like the person in general or she was trying to figure him out. "Shinnosuke, meet Kotoko Minaduki."  
  
Slowly, the male turned to stare at her, as if reminded that he is not alone.  
  
"So, this is him," she said flatly, looking at him and seizing him up. She does not like what she sees, because she cannot understand what she sees. He was not quite a boy, yet not fully a man yet. She frowns, trying to puzzle out what exactly is it that stands before her.   
  
He meets her gaze squarely, revealing nothing in his eyes. There is no spark or fire in them, all that existed was a penetrating darkness that absorbs all that was thrown at it. The two of them stare at each other, each assessing the other.   
  
He seems to find what he is looking for first as he suddenly shrugs, before he starts to stare off to the side.  
  
"Um, shall we go?" Hikari asked, filling in the lull in the conversation.  
  
Shinnosuke merely nods, a brief impatient gesture as if he cannot wait to be rid of this place.  
  
----  
  
It still surprised him to see how much things had changed since he was a kid. He had noticed it when he was in the car this morning, but he hadn't really seen it. It had been easy to be detached when the sights were just whizzing by him, but now...  
  
The shop in front of him had been a candy shop once, he could remember that it had the best chocolates in the neighbourhood. He could remember that every time he or Hikari entered the shop, the owner of the shop, a plump middle-aged motherly female would greet the two of them with a cheerful smile and an affection that was hard to fake.   
  
It was not the only shop that had changed, but it was an example. Somehow, he felt impossibly old now, in his mind, the Hibikino of his memory had not aged, had not changed at all, although he had suspected it would. Nothing remained the same after all, he had told himself when he was still deliberating whether to return. But, he hadn't suspected the change would upset him like this.  
  
"You okay, Shin-chan?" Hikari asked, as she stared at him worriedly when she noticed he had stopped moving and was staring at the bookshop with far-off eyes.  
  
"Fine," he said in a distracted manner, not bothering to move from the spot or even turn his head to look at her. He sounded like he hadn't even heard her, just continued staring.   
  
Kotoko opened her mouth to say something, but stopped as she looked at Shinnosuke.  
  
He looked so...lonely that her heart felt like it was breaking although she didn't know why. She could remember back when she had been young, she had gone with her mother to the park and saw an old man sitting on the bench all by himself, watching nothing in particular, in fact he hadn't even seemed like he wanted to be there. As she had played in the park, she had watched the old man with the curiousity of a child who did not know better.  
  
He just sat there, as people walked passed him, most of their glances passed by him as if he wasn't even there. And finally, when evening came, he just stood up and walked away, like clockwork.   
  
Shinnosuke reminded her of that old man, sitting by himself.  
  
Someone with no where to go.  
  
Finally, he turned to them, the ice in his eyes rising to cover up the naked vulnerability that had been in them. "Let's go," he said, and started walking away from the shop without looking back.  
  
-----  
  
His mind was on other things as he walked down the pathway to his home. He had said goodbye to Hikari and her friend at the junction, as they both went their own ways, he down one path and Hikari and Kotoko down another.   
  
He paused suddenly, sensing instinctually, that something was wrong. Carefully, he looked around him. Everything looked the same as it had moments before, but yet, the feeling was still there.   
  
Danger, soft, muted but still undeniably there. Absently, he rubbed his forearm, as he tried to understand what exactly he was feeling.   
  
Flicker.  
  
--  
  
He panted, struggling for breath even as he could feel it draining away from him. The blood had long since cooled and he could find no warmth from either it or the cracked cement floor.   
  
--  
  
The hairs on the back of Shinnosuke's neck rose as he almost growled. 'Her?! Could it be??' It had been years, but he still remember the promise she made to him. Almost instantly, his eyes narrowed, flashing a brimson golden as he clenched his hand into a tight ball.  
  
'I'm not the same boy anymore,' he thought, and then he was moving.  
  
END#2  
  
Notes:   
  
Characters:  
Hikari Hinomoto: Shinnosuke's childhood friend. In sports, likes running. Seems to be a normal and slightly cheerful girl.   
  
Kotoko Minaduki: Strong-willed and Hikari's best friend. Has been with Hikari since grade school, slightly after Shinnosuke disappeared. Very protective of Hikari and Japan's culture.  
  
Shinnosuke Watase: Main character of this fic.  
  
For more information, feel free to visit my website http://sining.topcities.com  
  
P.S And yes, this is a blatant plug :P  
  
Sining 


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